NEW DELHI: As part of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 focusing on strengthening water infrastructure and reuse, the detailed project reports (DPRs) of over 80 per cent of projects are ready.
According to the officials, contracts of more than 57 percent of projects worth Rs 79,367 crore have already been awarded. Under the scheme launched in October 2021, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) set a target to provide universal coverage of water supply through functional taps to all households for which it had approved 8,202 projects.
Out of 6,852 DPRs prepared, 6,643 blueprints of projects costing Rs 1.21 lakh crore have been accorded approval. In three years of its launch, 698 projects of Rs 1.028 crores have been completed, officials added.
Besides provisions for 1.81 crore tap and 1.26 crore sewer connections, the Government proposed to augment the capacity of water treatment plants (WTPs) and sewage treatment plants (STPs) by 10,617 megaliters per day (MLD) and 5,791 MLD respectively under Amrut 2.0. The efforts include performance improvement of existing plants and construction of new facilities.
“Water requirement assessment and target was based on population in 2011. In the next two years, there will be 11 crores houses in the country therefore, emphasis is on the creation of water infrastructure and security; rejuvenation of water bodies and reuse. New infra will also create 20 crore men days of employment. We are not talking about providing water but taking it to another level. The dream is to supply quality potable water through taps suitable for drinking without further filtration in at least 500 cities,” said officials of the ministry.
Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal, at a recent briefing, also mentioned the Government's aspirations to replicate the successful model of consumable tap water quality and drinking of recycled water prevailing in Singapore.
The officials said that an incentive scheme for states and union territories (UTs) to encourage them to ensure good quality of recycled water being treated at plants has already been brought in. The proposed scheme--Clean Water Credit System—generates competitiveness among authorities for meeting environmental standards and for managing the used water (sewage) treatment plants efficiently.
The process to nominate STPs is already underway and at least 140 facilities with an operational capacity 5,000 million liters per day (MLD) have been onboarded, officials said.`